Straight Ball Sight|Analysis of Italian Football Really "Losing Confidence"?

Yingxian said

2024-06-30 14:47Former reporter of the International Department of Sports Weekly and senior sports creator

Since everyone is comparing Italy to the national football team, then I will say something different. I'd say Italy's performance at this tournament was "slightly below expectations but normal", but there's no need to be complacent.

First of all, on an emotional level, I am like all the "spiritual Italians" in China: Italian football and the names that used to be represent the football memories of two whole generations, not only at the national team level, but also at the club level, the league level, and even the tactical understanding of football, the appreciation of the game, and finally the philosophical level.

Yes, you can't defend it, you can't attack it, who can accept it in Italy? In my previous article, I said that Italy "can sleep peacefully" in Italy, which is a reference to Turandot's famous opera "Nobody Sleeps Tonight" - if there is no victory and hormones that football brings, then it is better to wash up and sleep, and not much to expect.

However, from a football perspective, it is certainly impossible for us to have "no expectations" of Italy, even if from an economic point of view, Serie A is completely incomparable to the Premier League; From the perspective of cultural popularization, Italy also has its own inherent disadvantages (the English and pan-English population can reach 2.5 billion in the world, and the Italian-speaking population is only 67 million), but Italian football will certainly not die.

Summary of this national team

If you want to clarify this issue, let's start with the Spalletti national team -

First of all, of course, there is no room for criticism – Spalletti undoubtedly made mistakes in both strategy and tactics, especially against Switzerland: reusing Fagiouli, El Shaarawy and Cristante, while ignoring some of the experience gained from the previous group stage against Spain. These players, who are either past their prime, or in mediocre form, simply can't provide the adrenaline that Italy needs in this kind of crucial bloody battle, or rather, they have fought hard, but it really didn't work.

This is what I really worry about Italy in this tournament (and many other teams that are already second-rate, but who also carry a lot of unrealistic expectations from the outside world, such as Belgium and Croatia, etc.): their way to win is really only through the "excess energy" brought by burning adrenaline - excessive focus, excessive sacrifice, excessive running, but players are also human beings, and after a long season, these can be predictably not sustainable.

Looking back at the previous games, it is not difficult to see that against Albania it was the most eye-catching performance for Italy (in the first half), against Spain it was not satisfactory, and against Croatia it can only be said that "it was barely stabilized by luck", and the situation has deteriorated.

By extension, we can point out the crux of Spalletti's problem: this Italian team was supposed to be the ceiling of Inter Milan, but for various reasons, it was gradually only able to play at the level of Roma or even Napoli - Spalletti's defense for this is that "Inter Milan has too much advantage to win the championship too early, which makes the player lose his form".

In addition, it is also possible to point out the names that the national team should have had, but have disappeared for various reasons: first Udogie (this is the name that Spalletti misses the most), then Acerbi and Scalvini, who left the team due to injury, and then Tonali and Zaniolo, who were not selected for other reasons. I think if these people were there, then Spalletti might be able to try something else. And building a team with Inter players at the core has to face the uneven competitive and physical conditions of the likes of Barella, Bastoni, Dimarco and Dalmián, and the risk is too great.

So all in all, Spalletti's strategy was wrong, but his luck was really bad - I think for a coach of his level, he should do his homework and play in the World Cup again. I can only rate 50 points for his performance at this European Championship, but I wish him the best of luck for the future.

Is Serie A really lagging behind?

It's time again for the chapter of "The Emperor's Dream" (⁎⁍̴̛ᴗ⁍̴̛⁎)

In fact, it is very unfair for us to simply scold the strength of the Italian national team and conclude that "Italian football has entered the worst era in history".

Why? Just look at the results of the past two seasons in Europe - Serie A teams have reached the final of all three major cup competitions in '23, and this year they have won the Europa League and the UEFA Europa League as runners-up. The fact is that Italian football is striking a "new balance" in a "new cycle".

What is the "New Equilibrium"? In my opinion, in the case of the sluggish domestic economy and the tightening of the monetary system, the performance from the three perspectives of youth training, tactics, and external potential has been maintained at the same time, and it is reflected in the results on the field. Whether it's the top giants Inter Milan, the second-rate team Roma Lazio, Napoli Atalanta, or the third-rate team Turin Fiorentina Bologna, they all have their own practices and effective methods - and I certainly won't forget the other two top giants, Juventus and Milan, who are gradually recovering from their own painful struggles (maybe they have changed their flavors), which is also a fact for all to see.

For these good aspects, I think it is an objective existence that must be seen and recognized - as the saying goes, "chickens don't pee, each has its own way" Yes: although Serie A is poor, it is not "a dime" in the absolute sense (it can generally be understood that the salary level of players in Serie A teams is roughly equivalent to 60% of the average of the Premier League, and not much different from the Bundesliga and La Liga), but "the down-and-out phoenix is not as good as a chicken", and it has not yet reached the level of needing to PK with quails.

Personally, I have always opposed the use of "single element theory" to judge football - such as economy, strength, corruption, and system, all of which can have a profound impact on the level of football in a country, but when it comes to things alone, they are incomplete and incomplete. So instead of losing confidence and hope in Italian football because of the "poor economy", it is better to look at Spain, Portugal, etc., which are worse in the economy next door.

Future? It seems like it's coming soon......

Finally, I would like to talk about the excellent performance of the Italian team in the Under-19 European Youth Championship for two consecutive years (including the runner-up of the World Youth Championship in 23 years), and the performance of Italy in this year's Under-17 European Youth Championship, which won the championship against fierce rivals Portugal.

Among these teams, there is no shortage of children from small Serie A teams such as Lecce and Monza, and of course there is no shortage of seedlings from big clubs such as Roma, Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus - in a word, this kind of achievement is no accident, and it still has a broad social soil, cultural and educational foundation behind it.

This kind of back-to-back winning and successful performance in European youth competitions will be a harbinger of a country's football taking off again anytime and anywhere – an iron law (Germany, England and Portugal, for example, are the best examples). So I'm going to make a flag here: in 3-5 years at most, Italian football will welcome a new batch of talents, who may not shine as brightly as their predecessors, but who will have a competitive advantage ^_^ over their peers

That's the root cause of my optimism. If the club's achievements have relied on foreign aid, short-lived and tactical success, then the excellent performance of the Italian youth team at all levels of youth team competition over the years is certainly inevitable.

From my point of view, Italian football has the best football culture, the most advanced training concept, the best coaching group, and the most unique football style.

Let's finally summarize -

Like all of you, I am deeply disappointed by Italy's defeat – what about defending the title? What about the saying that "the worse the group stage, the stronger the results"? But football is useless to just talk about metaphysics. We still have to understand the "concept of football", so good?

I'm still full of confidence and affection for Italian football anyway – everyone can see if my past judgments are accurate. So what else to say? We'll just see.

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